Harry Potter/ Supernatural (R)

[ishafel.livejournal.com]

Title: Old Country, by shalott
Pairing: Dean/ Sam
Author on LJ: astolat
Author Website: Fanfic by Shalott
Why this must be read: The Winchesters go to Hogwarts, is all I'm going to say about the plot, because I don't want to spoil you. It sounds ridiculous, like the premise for a really bad crackfic, but somehow it isn't. It's clever and funny, mostly, but it's sad and sweet in places, too. Like Hogwarts, like the canon for both Harry Potter and Supernatural, there's more there than you expect. And the road is even more satisfying than the destination.

They'd driven four hundred and twenty-three miles that day by the Impala's odometer, pulled off the interstate at exit 298 and stopped at the third motel they found, a handful of run-down cabins scattered around a big gravel parking lot. They were paying with a brand-new card and they hadn't called anybody for two weeks, and no one in the world knew where they were but them and God. So when the knock came on the door, just after dark, Dean's hands went from cleaning the gun to sliding it back together, smooth and quick and easy, loading even as they got up from the beds and crept to the door.

"Yeah, who is it," Dean called, thinking. There was a window on the far side of the room, in the kitchenette; if it was the Feds, maybe he could stall long enough to give Sam time to get out that way—he could toss a little flashpowder in their eyes if they had guys back there too, and then it was dark woods for a good mile, going by the road they'd taken to get here.

But there wasn't an answer, just another rap-rap-rap, and Sam cautiously peered through the eyehole and then backed off again and hissed, "There's nobody there."

Dean looked down: their salt line inside the threshold was solid; he reached to flick aside the curtain and see about the windows. "Holy shit!" he said, jumping back.

The owl glared at him with giant yellow eyes from under its scowling feathery brow, and clacked its beak against the window again, insistently.

"Check it out, it's a freaking rabid owl," Dean said, holstering his piece and peering out at it.

"Do owls get rabies?" Sam said, dubiously.

"You're not gonna tell me that's normal," Dean said, pointing at it. The owl was getting more agitated, fluttering up from the sill and clawing at the window with its talons.

Sam squinted and leaned closer to the window. "Is that—does it have a note tied to its leg?"

"Dude, don't open—"